The Press Box

The Toledo Holiday Hockey Festival benefiting former Clay player Kyle Cannon is scheduled for Dec. 28-29 at the Huntington Center in downtown Toledo.

The fest this year will include two days of hockey. On Friday, at 10 a.m., gates open and visitors can watch the Toledo Walleye practice. At 11:30 a.m., a youth hockey game with teams to be decided begins, followed by Whitmer vs. Fremont Ross varsity teams at 1 p.m., Clay vs. Anthony Wayne at 3 p.m., and at 7:05 p.m. the Walleye take on the Cincinnati Cyclones. Game times are subject to minimal changes.

On Saturday, a youth hockey game begins at 11 a.m., the Lake varsity team will take on Springfield at noon, Eastwood will play Perrysburg at 1:30 p.m., the University of Toledo club hockey team takes on Eastern Michigan, and at 7:05 the Walleye take on the Kalamazoo Wings.

“Organizers would like to extend you invitations to volunteer their time “in order to make a positive difference in Kyle’s life,” states a press release emailed by Clay hockey team manager John Utter.

“You may not be aware of the circumstances surrounding Kyle and the injury he encounter playing high school hockey for Clay. Kyle was unfortunately checked from behind and suffered a broken C3 Vertebrae and a complete severed spinal cord. Since the accident in November of 2008 Kyle suffers from paralysis from the neck down and operates a specially manufactured wheel chair controlled by his mouth and chin,” Utter said in an email to The Press.

“Currently, Kyle has started his freshman year at Bowling Green State University majoring in Computer Science. With the help of the Toledo Walleye and Toledo Blade I will be hosting the Fourth Annual Hockey Day in Toledo Benefiting Kyle Cannon at the beautiful Huntington Center,” Utter continued.

Utter says 100 percent of the proceeds from the festival go directly to the KC3 Foundation and assist in paying medical deductibles for Kyle’s medical aids.

“As you can imagine Kyle requires tremendous care daily and the medical aids are a necessity for Kyle to care of himself: especially while attending college,” Utter said.

“Help support the KC3 Foundation by purchasing a Toledo Walleye game day ticket voucher at toledowalleye.com. It is $5 per voucher sold is donated to the KC3 foundation. All volunteers will need to purchase a Toledo Walleye voucher for admission and this voucher can be redeemed for any Toledo Walleye home game ticket.

Utter says if you are not available to volunteer, please consider purchasing Toledo Walleye vouchers. He says The Toledo Walleye vouchers make great Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers.

Please carefully consider this special request and I look forward to hearing from you.

“KC3 is number one in our hearts and number 3 in your program,” Utter said. He can be reached at 419-930-7815 or jutter@ups.com.

Tickets for the invite can ordered online at ToledoWalleye.com/HockeyFest or 419-725-WALL. For other info, contact Emily Croll at ecroll@toledowalleye.com.

Sports announcementsThe YMCA/JCC basketball clinic hosted by Coach Arnold Sutter of Western Basin Toledo AAU Basketball will be Dec. 26-28 from 4:30-6 p.m. each day at the Eastern Community YMCA. Contact the Eastern Y at 419-691-3523. Sutter, a basketball coach for 42 years and YMCA member for over 50 years, is hosting a clinic for the 15th year. Involved in the clinic are representatives from the University of Toledo’s men’s and women’s basketball programs. Sutter can be reached at asutter@earthlink.net

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